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Our Ratings

Skegs makes it easy to see what the conditions will be like, because all our
forecasts are colour coded to help make planning your water sports sessions easier.
Our intelligent rating system looks at a range of weather and tide factors and provides
a summary to guide you.

You can customise the Skegs Ratings to match your needs by using our settings panel. Adjust to suit your
equipment, abilities and location. Once saved, the settings will be used every time you visit us.

The main ratings we use

Good

Wind speeds and tide depth mean that this is a great
opportunity to be on the water. Check that the wind gusts, rain and temperature are
suited to your ability.

Windy

High wind speeds will make conditions difficult and potentially dangerous - consider
avoiding these times unless you are an expert.
Windy ratings ignore the tide, so be sure to check water depth.

Low

Wind speeds are fine but the tide will be too shallow for most.

Calm

Tide depth is fine but winds are light. Time to get the kayak or SUP board out!

Poor

Very light or strong winds combine with low tide depth, making this a good
time to leave your kit at home.

The default Skegs Ratings are based on windspeeds of 8-20 mph (13-32 kph / 7-17 knots / F3-F5 Beaufort);
the tide depth component is synthesized to take the location's tidal range into account.

Tide depth only forms part of the rating where a tidal forecast is available.

Fine-tune for more insight

Skegs also allows you to fine-tune the ratings using our flexible customisation
options. These options can be set globally for all locations and then further customised to suit the
characteristics of specific locations. The "Good" rating will only be used for times that meet all of
your criteria; for times that don't you'll be advised as follows:

Wind Dir

The predicted wind doesn't match your preferred direction. Useful for when you
need an onshore breeze.

Wet

Rainfall predictions exceed the level that you're comfortable with.

Cold

The predicted temperature falls below your limit. A good option for our fair-weather
fans or those who want to know when to wear their winter gear.

The swell size falls below a minimum level you've set. Useful for surfers who only
get out of bed for the big waves, or for those who prefer flatter conditions.Available in swell
forecast locations only.

About Us

Our Story

Skegs launched in 2014 with the aim of bringing useful water sports information together
in one place. Our founder, Steve Midgley, had become weary of manually stitching different
sources together to build up a picture of the local sailing conditions. Being a keen sailor and
windsurfer in the South of England, he found that it was imperative to know not just the
wind and weather forecasts but also what the tide would be doing.

At Skegs we understand that sailors, surfers and other water sports enthusiasts need to know
about water conditions as much as the weather. The tide depth, direction of flow and
surf conditions can be just as important as the wind, temperature and rain. So we draw on the best
information sources available to present a comprehensive and easy-to-use forecast for users across
the globe.

We've found a growing interest in our products from inland sailors and
have expanded our coverage beyond the coasts. We can provide weather-only forecasts for any
location on the globe, so if you can't find your favourite inland spot please
tell us which location you'd like
to see and we'll add it for you as soon as we're able.

How to Read Our Forecasts

We provide a 7-day forecast for each of the locations that we cover. The times shown are local
to that location.

Tide is an indication of the height of the tide at a point measured by
the hydrographic services. It should be read in conjunction with your experience of the local area
to determine how it reflects the minimium tide depth needed for your equipment.

The direction of the tide is indicated by a graphic as follows:

Tide depth is increasing (flood / tide coming in).

Tide depth is decreasing (ebb / tide going out).

The tide will reach a low ebb and start to come in (change from ebb to flood).

The tide will peak and start to go out (change from flood to ebb).

Tide depth can be shown either in meters or in feet and inches.

Occasionally, a change in tide direction can be followed by a depth that appears to go the wrong way.
For example, you may see a symbol at 8am that says the tide will begin to come in, yet the depth at
9am is still lower. This occurs when the actual tide change happens late in the window, such as at
8:50. The symbol aligns with 8am for ease of reading, but the depth is lower at 9am as it is closer
to the low water mark.

No tidal information is shown for inland locations.

The moon phase shows each day's stage of the 28-day lunar cycle. Full
moon and new moon produce spring tides, which are stronger than the neap tides found during the
first and last quarters. Spring tides bring higher highs, lower lows and a more pronounced flow.
You can find a good explanation of the relationship between the moon and tides in
Deborah Byrd's blog post on EarthSky from June 2015. We indicate the moon phases as follows:

New moon

First quarter

Full moon

Last quarter

Wind and Gust indicate the speed and steadiness
of the wind. Wind speeds can be shown in miles per hour (mph), kilometers per hour (kph), knots (kts)
or the Beaufort scale (Bf).

Wind Direction indicates the bearing that the wind is blowing on. The arrow
points in the direction that the wind is heading, while the text indicates the compass point that it
is blowing from. Wikipedia has a good page that explains wind direction conventions in more detail.

Temperature reflects the air temperature and can be shown using either the
celsius or Farenheit scales.

Cloud cover indicates the percentage of the sky obscured by cloud. The lower
the number, the sunnier it should be.

Rain indicates the volume of precipitation expected in a one-hour period.
Although we have opted to use the generic term of "rain", precipitation could also take the form of
hail, sleet or snow. Please consider other factors such as temperature or whether your area is prone
to thunder showers when planning your session. Rainfall can be shown using millimeters or inches.

Current shows the strength and prevailing direction of marine surface
currents. The speed is shown using the same unit as the wind - kph, knots or mph (default). A good
description of the relationship
between currents and tides is available on Wikipedia.

Swell forecasts are available for many of our coastal locations and show the
height of marine waves along with the mean direction of travel and the time in seconds between swells.
The background colour's intensity indicates the swell height relative to the location's normal range.
Deeper colours mean bigger waves, while lighter colours predict flatter water.

Barometric Pressure (shown as BP on the forecast) gives the level of
atmospheric pressure, or the gravitational force of the air. Air pressure is a crude indicator
of whether conditions are stable or likely to change. The value itself is fairly insignificant, what
matters is the rate and direction of change. Generally, stormy conditions are associated with
rapidly falling air pressure, while high steady values indicate clear skies with light winds.

The Overnight Summary is intended to give a sense of how the weather may
affect conditions between the daily forecasts. For example, stormy winds overnight can whip up swell
and chop, but would not otherwise be evident if the storm passes before daybreak. The wind factors shown
are the minimum wind and maximum gusts. Temperature is the overnight low. Rainfall
is the total forecast for the period.

Water temperature is a measure of the water surface temperature. We use the
most recent 24-hours buoy and ship data combined with satellite geothermal imaging to provide the
current average temperature value for each location.

A Note About Forecast Accuracy

Weather forecasters use a variety of instrumentation and data as a basis for constructing their
forecasts. They then apply models to this data to provide a picture of what the weather is likely to
do over a period of time. In most cases, short-term forecasts (up to two days) tend to be more
accurate than longer-term ones. Of course, our forecasters don't control the weather, they simply try
to read it. Sometimes they get it wrong due to other factors coming in to play that were not, or could
not, be considered.

Tide predictions tend to be more reliable than weather forecasts as they are based primarily on the
position of the moon, sun and Earth in relation to one another. These are stable factors that combine
with the shape of the ocean basins and the swirl caused by Earth's rotation. This means that, for any
coastal location on the planet, it is possible to predict with some degree of certainty when the tide
will change direction and what the mean water depth will be at that point. However, there is still a degree
of modelling needed to provide predictions between the high- and low-water marks, and geographical factors
such as narrow channels may also influence the depth and strength of flow.

While we endeavour to provide you with the most accurate forecasts available, they are intended for
recreational use only. Please take sensible precautions before going afloat and consider how you may
respond should conditions not turn out as expected.

Welcome To The Skegs Community

Our social media pages and feeds keep our community abreast of news relating to our products,
as well as what's going on in the world of water sports and beyond. We share news and interesting
stories with our growing online community, and we encourage our followers to share and get
involved in the conversation.

What Are Skegs Anyway?

Wikipedia defines a skeg, (skegg
or skag) as a sternward extension of the keel of boats and ships which have a rudder mounted on the
centre line.
In more recent years, the name has been used for a fin on a surfboard that improves directional
stability and to a moveable fin on a kayak which adjusts the boat's centre of lateral resistance
(it moves the center of resistance relative to the center of effort). The term is also often used for
the fin on water skis in the U.S. and for the tail bumpers of aircraft in the US Navy.

The word originates in the Scandinavian word for beard ("skegg" in Old Norse). In Icelandic the word
remains skegg; in modern Norwegian Bokmål and Nynorsk it appears as skjegg; in Swedish it is skägg
and in Danish, skæg. The Norwegian pronunciation of the letter combination "skj" is as in the English
"sh".

The word is related to the English "shaggy". It also appears in the English place name Skegness -
"beard point" - from the way in which a series of tombolos forms towards the nearby Gibraltar Point.
Here the English pronunciation reflects a probable Danish origin, which pronounces the "sk" letter
combination as an English speaker would expect.

Contact Us

We Love To Hear From You!

Having difficulty? You can report problems with our site via
e-mail. While we have tried to make the Skegs service as robust as possible, things do
occasionally go wrong. If you encountered an error, please describe what you were trying to do when it
happened and what error message you received. If the forecasts for your location are grossly
inaccurate we may have mapped it to the wrong source data - let us know the location and what the forecast
is getting wrong.

Have a suggestion? We're interested to know about your experience with the site and how it can be
made better. Please send us your ideas for future
enhancements.